Indian Higher Education and Its Long-Awaited Need for Change

Education in India dates back to the early Vedic Age, where the teaching and learning process was based on the ‘Gurukul System’. The Gurukul system is an ancient education method with the curriculum built on the 3S model (Self-control, Social Awareness and Spiritual Development). The most radical change in this ancient Indian style of higher education (which we can refer to as HE 1.0) was introduced by the British where the curriculum and delivery methods were based on the 3L model (Language, Linguistics and Literature). Under the 3L Model, the emphasis was to boost English language as a medium of instruction and communication, with an objective to fill vacancies that cropped up in the ambit of British Administrative Services in India.

Post-Independence, India saw Higher Education 2.0 focusing on the STEM model (Science, Technology, Engineering and Management). Under this model, many Institutions of National Importance were formed. With the passage of time, the Indian Higher Education witnessed a steep increase in its GRI (Gross Enrolment Index) and this posed a big challenge to the Government Institutions to cater to the needs of mass applicants. This resulted in HE 3.0 which encouraged P3 model (Public Private Partnership). The Nextgen companies are complaining about employability issues of graduates as they opine that graduates lack the skillsets required by organizations. The corporates are of the collective opinion that graduates are failing to meet the requirements of Industry 4.0. This is perhaps an indication that there has to be a reboot of the Indian Higher Education - which should move to become an agile model.

The authors of this research paper strongly feel that HE 4.0 should focus on the E3 model (Education, Employability and Employment) for addressing the current concerns around skill development of graduates at the higher education level. The current lot of graduates appear ill-equipped to meet industry needs and expectations, and the need of the hour is to enhance the skill matrix that can lead to job creation. This research paper elaborates on how the E3 model can fit into the requirements of Industry 4.0. The researchers have gathered data using purposive sampling which involved personal interactions with Deans/HODs/Principals of various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Bengaluru. The preliminary literature review led the researchers to believe that the concept of the E3 model itself is still in a nascent stage in Higher Education, and academicians are yet to find a common track to precisely define and measure it. Furthermore, the E3 model has to necessarily go through a process of refinement over a period of time, conceptually, as well as in terms of applicability and reality-testing. Accordingly, the researchers have tried to gather data, information, and views regarding the subject through secondary published sources (on studies that have been sparsely conducted, both globally as well as in India) in National and International Journals of repute. Based on information gathered from these twin sources, the researchers have derived an E3 structure and a model has been conceptualized. Specifically, the discussion in the paper is on the following:

1. Indian Higher Education – Current Scenario
2. Background of Higher Education System
3. Understanding E3 Model for enhancing the performance of Higher Education.

Keywords: Higher Education, Employability, Skill, Job Creation

Indian Higher Education – Current Scenario

Indian higher education system is third largest in the world, comprising of 799 universities and 39,071 colleges. About two-thirds of colleges are privately managed, and more than half are in rural areas. While adult literacy levels are rising, only 6% of Indian citizens graduate from a college (MHRD 2016). In absolute terms, however, the numbers are large: about 31.56 million Indian students are enrolled in colleges and universities. By 2030, India would become one of the youngest nations in the world with a college going age group population of around 140 million people. The daunting question that still remains unanswered is - can India build world-class higher education system? The quest to create “world-class” universities is a global obsession since the past decade as governments across the world have placed the development of competitive higher education and research systems at the heart of their national economic strategies. The time has come where one needs to introspect on whether the current inexorable focus on rankings is required by Indian higher education or not.

Indian higher education is also working towards collaborating with the world class universities. In the current scenario it is very disheartening to note that only a few Indian universities and colleges have substantially built relationship with foreign institutions for course delivery, co-creating research work, and for various exchange programs for faculty and students. Some of the private universities and colleges have succeeded in promoting international tie-ups by adopting the curricula of foreign institutions and by offering twinning programs. But, the objectives are skewed towards improving their Indian market position. There is a general perception that a foreign-integrated institution has efficient faculty and infrastructure. This may not be realistic in all cases. These institutions are attracting students by offering foreign degrees at economical tuition fees as compared to institutions abroad. Through twinning programs Indian institutions are giving opportunities to students to gain international exposure and experience by them for a semester to the partnering institution’s campus in their home country. However, this format of higher education gives rise to another question of whether students coming out of these institutions can really broaden their skills and horizons simply by following an adopted curriculum!

Background

The Department of Higher Education, MHRD - with the vision of utilising India's human resource capacity to its maximum in the Higher Education sector with equity and inclusion - is in charge of the entire development of the basic infrastructure of the Higher Education sector, with regard to both policy and planning (MHRD, 2016). This division takes care of expansion of access and quality check in the education system. India has highest number of educational institutions in the world and stands third with respect to the size and its diversity (PWC, 2012). India’s development in the area of social, industrial and economic development is contributed by Higher education system. As per Sharma, S & Sharma P (2015) the role of Indian higher educational institutes such as colleges and universities in the current scenario is to empower youth for self-sustainability and this shall happen through quality interventions in the field of education, research etc. In India, MHRD, Department of Higher Education is the top most form of authority, that acts more as a canopy organization. Apart from the regulation from the ministries, Higher Education is also influenced by around fifteen regulatory bodies who perform correlating roles. In several cases Indian Higher Education has been complemented and contradicted from the Judicial system on the Higher Education objectives. (Agarwal, 2006). This has created certain vagueness in the interpretation of policy documents including its accountability and answerability. Higher education is also subjected to lot of criticism that the control reigns rely in the hands of political dogmas (NKC, 2009). In India, it has always been the combined responsibility of both the Central and the State governments. India being the seventh largest country in the world and the second largest country by population count has to seize the opportunity and infallibly concentrate on her higher education sector as a source of growth in the current knowledge-driven marketplace (Joshi, 2013). Entangled in this maze of challenges, lie the opportunities for India to emerge as numero uno on the global map.

Need of the Hour

Education:

The Indian Education System always emphasized on testing than to teaching skills This has seeded to a practice whereby knowledge is tested at regular intervals without giving much weightage to the teaching skills. There are many such deep-rooted hurdles in the education system which needs attention. Many education services face imperfections in the system and these flaws does not allow the universal demand for good education unravel into a bigger marketplace (CSE, 2018). In order to address the humungous population, India needs to embrace internet and technology in a much superior way.

Hence, it has become more evident to invest in technological infrastructure that facilitates access to knowledge much better than what exists today. It is the need of the hour to outgrow from the systems of old formats and obsolete teaching-learning models and adapt to constructive educational delivery models and mechanisms. This dissemination can happen through easy access of high speed internet on smartphones and personal computers. Even though there are many changes happening in the field of technology, there is a wide scope for innovation in this space. Our system breeds significant number of engineering graduates every year but when we map the technological innovation and the engineering graduates we get to see a lien contribution towards.

The Indian Higher Education system must look beyond generating same set of graduates who are currently using their engineering skills in managing the BPO/BPM centers for the rest of the world. The objective of our new enhanced education system should be to produce entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, innovators, designers, scientists, avant-garde thinkers and writers who can lay the foundation of a knowledge-based economy rather than be contented with the status quo, wherein we are perceived to be a low-cost service provider nation.

Employability:

India has numerous higher educational institutions catering to wide-ranging aspirants. This will strengthen the Indian Labour requirement both in national and international market resulting in massive demand for skilled and qualified labour. The alarm for Indian Higher Education has always been the employability of higher education graduates. One has to realise that it is not just the unschooled and unqualified people need to have skill training also the educated graduate is expected to meet industry standards.

This prevailing need make Indian higher education system to cope up with the pace of VUCA world. Many Suggestions have already been carved to plug the gaps but the rubric to measure the outcome has to be modified in such a way that the trinity of Education-Employability-Employment get addressed in a more meaningful manner.

Industry 4.0 is looking for certain attributes and personality traits while recruiting and selecting suitable graduates and to meet this demand of industry, higher educational institutes should come up with curriculum 4.0 by cocreating the syllabus and other academic requirements.

Employment:

The biggest challenge facing India's policymakers and administrators is the rapidly rising unemployment (CSE, 2018). Confirming and building on a view held by the critics of India's economic reforms process, the study points out that the relationship between growth and employment generation has become weaker over time (Mona, 2014). The unemployment rate in India has shot up by almost two times between the period July 2017 and April 2018. The CMIE 2017 report states that the number of jobs in India in the previous financial year of 2017-18 also declined to 40.6 crores from 40.67 crores as compared to the preceding year. The unemployment rate in the country rose from 3.39% in July 2017 to 6.23% in March 2018, and was projected to reach 6.75% in April 2018 (CMIE, 2018).

Technological advancements and rapidly disrupting business models are structurally shifting the Indian employment landscape as the world’s largest democracy faces a critical issue of skill development amidst rising unemployment. India is the youngest nation with more than 54 percent of its total population below 25 years of age, and 62 percent in the working age group of 15-59 years (ISR, 2018). As a solution to this problem, the Government of India has formulated the National Policy on Skill Development and set a target of providing vocational education and training to 500 million people by 2022. To reach this target, various stakeholders are involved. However, this alone will not solve the problem of outdated skills. The educational institutions on their part will have to emphasize on learning that is skill-based. One of the solutions is including entrepreneurship in school curriculum across all boards. This will inculcate creativity and innovation in the minds of youth, who can be potential entrepreneurs going forward. This is essential because various studies have indicated that most of the skill requirements in a decade will be for jobs which do not exist as of now.

Conclusion

Change is a complex process that involves people, organizations and processes (Almeida, 2017). The introduction of agile methodologies in an education system brings with it numerous benefits deriving from the characteristics of E3 practices. Technology is playing a crucial role to gear up the pace of development. Higher education aspirants are more keen on value for money. This leaves every institutional leader to ponder upon leveraging technology in executing institutions mission and understand the need to reboot the learning mechanism for the Industry 4.0. Four dimensions of challenges were identified within the context of this work. The first dimension is the people, in which we can find challenges in terms of personal education, experience and commitment, stakeholder involvement, location of teams and stakeholders, available training course and identification of customer needs. A second dimension is the organization and management, in which legal and cultural challenges arise. A third dimension is the process, in which we can find a long list of challenges, particularly the changes in terms of team practices, identification of functional and non-functional requirements, cross-team dependencies, reporting and tracking of projects, quality management, risk management, and scaling. Finally, the last dimension is related to tools, where emerge challenges associated with the technical complexity of projects, integration issues, project assessment and issues tracking.